Last Thursday the 13 of May 2010, Mr. Alexander Zammit resigned his position as ‘Secretary General' of the Malta Boxing Federation. In the days leading up to this decision there were rumors of a move by Mr. Charles Cardona better know on his insistence, as Vice President Charlie to oust the Secretary General. Many were shocked when the Vice President went as far as to take his argument on face book, but perhaps what was more shocking was the decision by Alex Zammit to resign rather than fight the motion.

One of our independent correspondents caught up with Alexander Zammit for an exclusive interview and an insight of what was going on in the MBF behind closed doors.

Correspondent: Can you confirm your resignation? And what prompted your decision?

Alexander Zammit: As most people in Maltese boxing circles are aware there is no lost love between Vice President Charlie and my self, the atrocious behavior of Vice President Charlie during the National Boxing Championships was the straw that broke the camels back.

Correspondent: Can you explain in more detail?

Alexander Zammit: Certainly but first of all I should tell you that Maltese Olympic Boxing has always had one major problem, as all local boxing clubs are commercial entities and this is not compatible with the principle of an amateur boxing federation working voluntarily for the sport, as in actual fact the work of the MBF to increase the popularity of the sport was increasing the business of the clubs. Recently I had started an exercise to try and identify premises which would enable the MBF to offer free or low cost lessons to those boxers who showed talent and wanted to train seriously, as you might imagine this news was not well received by the clubs and neither was the news that I was trying to raise funds for the purchase of AIBA approved rings, perhaps most are un-aware that every time the MBF organizes an activity it had to hire the ring from one of these commercial clubs at around 400 Euros per activity.

Correspondent: Thank you for the background and so what exactly happened at the Nationals?

Alex Zammit: First of all the nationals consisted of a number of title bouts and some non title bouts either to fill in the program or because the boxers did not make their weight. During one particular non title bout between Saier Soltani and Norbert Farrugia which was being controlled by Vice President Charlie one of the boxers Farrugia presented himself in the ring with a full beard and VP Charlie accepted him in the ring, later during the bout in the second round there was an incident and the situation escalated when the referee entered into an argument with Saier, disqualified him and then justified himself verbally to the crowd as he was lifting Farrugia’s hand.

Correspondent: You paint a bleak picture of utter incompetence, was this bout filmed?

Alex Zammit: Yes most definitely and in fact you can see it on You Tube

The situation between my self and VP Cardona happen when as he was leaving the ring from the non spectator’s side I drew his attention that officials should not address the crowd.

Correspondent: What was the VP reaction?

Alexander Zammit: Explosive and absolutely ballistic, he stormed out of the school hall were the competition was being held, a few minutes later during intermission in the school grounds he attacked me verbally with the most profane language imaginable and followed this by verbal abuse on the Islamic religion.

Correspondent: Are you confirming that this was in a school? Were minors present and why the Islamic religion?

Alex Zammit: I confirm the first two questions with a yes and as for your third question I suppose because I am a Muslim, perhaps he felt his tirade would be more hurtful and effective by being personal, from my side my main preoccupation were the children around us and the bad example he was setting as an official in an organization which deals with children & youths.

Correspondent: Was this the first incident of its kind between you two?

Alex Zammit: No there were others, in fact one time it was in my own house during an MBF Committee meeting when he became very aggressive after I refused to back down and let in professional boxers in the MBF, what made this incident very bad was that my nine month daughter was just feet away from him and he totally disregarded the fact that he was scaring her with his shouting and banging and might even have unintentionally hit her with the wild gesturing of his hands.

Correspondent: You leave me speechless, and how does all this tie in with the 13^th of May situation?

Alex Zammit: A week after the Nationals I gave strong indications that matters in the MBF were not as they should be and that I was going to submit a report to the MBF President and CC to our sport entities and the AIBA I also indicated that I would be resigning immediately afterwards. Then on the 10^th of May I received a call from VP Charlie informing me that a disciplinary meeting concerning me was being held on the 13^th of May and I was to attend, I naturally inquired what were the charges and was informed that this was none of my business and if I wanted to know than I had to attend the meeting and I would have a chance to answer the complaint. On the 11^th of May I received a mail from the mail address of VP Charlie informing me that my right to be informed of the charges and have a minimum of 14 days to prepare was suspended as in any case I was still going to be expelled. Later that day a call for a motion of no confidence in the Secretary General was also placed as you know on Face Book, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Malta-Boxing-Federation/152680322358?ref=ts

Correspondent: Is that a copy of the mail?

Alex Zammit: Yes and it is also a point that till this day I do not have a clue as to what I was excused of.

Correspondent: So you decided to resign?

Alex Zammit: Yes, this was a Kangaroo Court with a lynch mob mentality, I was about to blow the whistle and they had to preempt me in an effort to stop me from doing so.

Correspondent: Yes but it seems that you had good grounds to overturn their decision even on the international platform.

Alex Zammit: True but you have to consider the great difference between the parties, on one side you have an utilitarian mentality that is targeted at appeasing and gaining popular support sometimes irrespective of the AIBA rules, on the other hand I hold the principle that the MBF should be only for those who are and wish to be in total conformance to the rules and international obligations of the AIBA & the Olympic ideals. These two ideologies do not go very well together and thus a parting of the ways was inevitable.